AFAB clothing bins at the edge of the Festival Plaza parking lot do not indicate who the beneficiaries of the donations are. Records indicate the company is not registered to do business in Massachusetts.

Donated Cape clothing turned into rags

By GEORGE BRENNAN

gbrennan@capecodonline.com

December 28, 2009 - 2:00 AM

HYANNIS — Sarah Smith had no idea the gently worn clothing she stuffed into a white donation bin would either be sold to a Third World country or sliced into rags.

"I'm shocked," she said as she pulled the bag out of the overflowing box. "I'm bringing it to Goodwill instead."

The five boxes outside Shaw's Supermarket in the Festival Plaza parking lot urge donations of shoes and clothing, but there's no indication who benefits from the gifts. Small lettering on the boxes for AFAB Recycling Inc., a Connecticut-based company, indicates that donated items will at least not be thrown out.

"We are decreasing the burden on landfills and incinerators by 5 percent therefore helping improve the environment," the fine print reads in part.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, quoting industry reports, says that the textile industry annually prevents 2.5 billion pounds of clothing from winding up in dumps — 10 pounds for every person in the United States.

But unlike nonprofits that seek similar donations, such as the Salvation Army and Morgan Memorial Goodwill, AFAB doesn't put the clothing from its bins in the hands of needy families on the Cape. Instead, the textiles are sold in foreign countries, become rags or are used in carpet padding.

"Probably like everyone else I thought they were going to a worthy cause locally," said Smith, who emptied her South Yarmouth closets of things she no longer wears. "This is good stuff I don't use any more."

For-profit competition

James Harder, communications director for Morgan Memorial Goodwill, said clothing donations are down, even as the economy is creating a high demand for those items at the Hyannis store.

"There's no way to track how much it impacts us, but it definitely has an impact," Harder said.

The problem of for-profit companies being confused as charitable causes is so widespread that some states are looking to take action. In Connecticut, a law recently went into effect that requires companies to spell out on collection bins if donations are going to a for-profit company. Bins collecting for a charity must also make that clear.

Several New Jersey towns have also passed local ordinances, and a South Carolina legislator who previously worked for Goodwill sponsored legislation that would require donations to benefit residents of that state.

Clothing donations should not line the pockets of a private business owner, said Rep. Bill Wylie of Simpsonville, S.C. "It's not only unfair, it's greedy and egregious," he said.

No such law is proposed in Massachusetts, but there are laws in place that require companies and charities to register with the state.

The AFAB boxes shouldn't even be in the Hyannis plaza anymore. Corporate records kept by Secretary of State William Galvin's office indicate the company's registration to do business in Massachusetts was revoked in April.

The company registered to do business in Massachusetts in 2000, but has never filed an annual report, said Laurie Flynn, director of corporations for the state. The state is out more than $4,000 in fees, Flynn said, but the company could clear up its status by filing the annual reports, paying the outstanding fees and adding $100 to refile, she said.

Consumers should check with the attorney general's office before making charitable donations, including to clothing bins, Jill Butterworth, spokeswoman with attorney general Martha Coakley's office, said.

“To those consumers who want to make sure donations are going to the best place, we recommend they do their homework,” Butterworth said.

Hyannis isn't the only place where AFAB has bins; the Worcester Telegram recently did a story about the company's bins in and around that city.

A call to the phone number listed on the AFAB boxes was returned, but the man said he was not authorized to answer questions. He said he would have his boss return the call, but that never happened.

Employees for the plaza's landlord, Kimco Realty, did not return calls either.

A published report indicates AFAB has annual sales between $2.5 million and $5 million.

Paul Curry, owner of Bay State Textiles of Brockton, says the questionable practices used by companies like AFAB and Recycling Associates of Rhode Island, which collects clothing from the pink boxes that have sprouted all over the Cape, cast all recycling companies in a bad light.

Curry owns the well-known clothing trailer located in the Falmouth Plaza, near the Christmas Tree Shop. That trailer, he said, generates $125 per week and quarterly payments based on tonnage that net as much as $7,000 per year for the Friends of Falmouth Basketball.

'It's a game'

Compare that with the $35,000 per year that Recycling Associates gives the Gemma Foundation of Lincoln, R.I., a breast cancer charity, from all of its 200 pink boxes. That amounts to $175 per year per box, while the company makes millions.

"It's a game. They pay pennies on the dollar to this charity in Rhode Island. It's just not fair," Curry said. "They've hijacked the breast cancer ribbon."

Donald Mariani, owner of Recycling Associates, defended the money given to the foundation. His company also makes other donations like 200 turkeys it gave at Thanksgiving to the Hyannis Elks, which has a pink box in its parking lot.

"It's more than collecting clothing," he said.

Along with the trailer in Falmouth, Curry, who lives on the Cape, said he also collects used clothing at the Sandwich and Barnstable transfer stations. That revenue goes to the towns, he said.

Sandwich receives $1,250 per year, Department of Public Works director Paul Tilton said in an e-mail. The town also collects clothing for the Salvation Army, he said.

Another Bay State Textiles trailer in Yarmouth benefits the high school athletic programs, although it generates less than the Falmouth location because there are fewer donations, Curry said.

That Brockton-based company is in good standing with the state, according to records.

Though the bulk of the clothing he collects is also shipped overseas, Curry said he is sharing more of the profits with local nonprofits. His business also benefits communities in other ways. He pays excise taxes and registration fees on his 38 trailers.

There are no regulations or taxes paid on the donation bins for Recycling Associates and AFAB.

American Red Cross has clothing bins at 286 South Street, Hyannis, and at area transfer stations, as well as at rest areas on Route 6. (The clothing is sold to vendors by the Red Cross, but 100 percent of the money comes back into the local chapter for its emergency responses.)